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I am NOT a “canner” when it comes to jam. I literally had one of those small flats of strawberries that I bought off of my friends that were called “jam-berries” because they were quite ripe and DELICIOUS! The cost is about half price of what a normal flat is too! (check your local strawberry farm to see if they do that there too!)

So, I had to find a couple of recipes and BLEND them. I can’t ever do things the way can I? HA!

Here’s the 4 links for the jam that I made, and then I will post what I actually did.

I don’t think that I exactly made it in the traditional way… but I’ve gotta say, it turned out WONDERFULLY!!! My entire batch is delicious…!!!

Disclaimer: I DID sanitize my jars, but in the dishwasher and then heated them up in the sink, not by boiling them. Follow whatever instructions that it shows on the above recipes for the proper way to do so.

Put a small plate in the freezer. Place the mashed strawberries, lemon zest and lemon juice in a nonreactive 10-quart stockpot set over medium-high heat. Stir in the pectin until dissolved. Bring the strawberries to a strong boil.

Add the sugar (measure beforehand so you can add it all at once), and then return the mixture to a full (violent) boil that can’t be stirred down. Boil hard for 1 minute 15 seconds. Skim foam off the top.

Perform a gel test: Place a spoonful of jam on chilled plate, and return to freezer. Wait 1 to 2 minutes; remove plate from freezer, and gently press jam with fingertip; it should wrinkle slightly.

After jam passes the gel test, remove from heat. Pour warm jam into jars; seal, label, and refrigerate up to 4 months.

Fill the jars so that they have 1/4-inch of space at the top. Run a knife down the side of the jar to get rid of air bubbles. Wipe the rim of the jar with a wet cloth to remove any residue or stickiness.

And there you have it! That recipe made 1 LARGE jar (the size of a spaghetti sauce jar) and one small jar full (the size in the pictures above). Try it, you’ll like it!!! You can add sugar and reduce pectin, or vice versa. I honestly made it that way because I completely RAN OUT of sugar!!! AAAH! 🙂